The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

Paul Reiche III has kindly donated raw speech for the missing lines, but we need to edit them.
Raw file:
http://www.savefile.com/files/653986 (http://www.savefile.com/files/653986)
A bit edited (lower, some reverberation, but that "wetty" effect I didn't know how to implement):
http://www.savefile.com/files/653974 (http://www.savefile.com/files/653974)


So now we basically need an idea about what effects must be applied so as the speech sounds as much as the original Mycon speech as possible.

Who do you think you're fooling?

I'm not fooling anyone. Mail him at paul at THEIRtoysNOSPAMforbobDOMAIN.com.
Apropos, check your inbox too if you want to see his mail.

I think this is a situation where we need to trust, but verify (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust,_but_Verify).

I think Paul can confirm you this.

Well personally I think it does sound like the original Paul/Mycon voice, but slightly different due to the fact Paul would sound from now and 15 years ago.

This one has a bit higher pitch. I believe that the only reason for which it doesn't sound the same is that we haven't yet applied the needed effects (since we don't know what effects to apply).

Well, I had been told that Paul and Fred were out of town until today, and the .wav file has an info entry which lists yesterday as the date of editing. And his voice sounds nothing like his appearance on Lan Party not so long ago, even considering he'd intentionally be skewing it.
That said, the email you sent me looked rather genuine.

Anyhow, I said it before, as far as I'm concerned, if you can make it so you don't realise the voice doesn't belong there, I'm fine with using it in the game. That holds here too. If this actually is his voice, it would still have to be properly processed to be used in the game.

I don't know why the .wav says that it's edited yesterday (less even WHERE it says that), but when I sent the email two days ago, I got an AutoReply saying that:
So your information that Paul was out of town were correct, but he in fact was to return yesterday, so that edit date is no problem.

The voice - well, I don't know what sort of equipment he used to record it, maybe it was broken.  :-\ Or maybe your memory is not THAT perfect.

Now you're really getting to the meat of the problem. I'm still wondering what effect should I use - maybe I should dig some old Mac audio processing programs, seeing as how likely it is that the processing took place on a Mac.

Has anybody any idea as to what program was used, or what audio programs for Macs were available at that time?

My memory is just fine. But it doesn't come in here; I was listening to a recording of the program side by side with your samples. But the equipment will be an issue. This was a rather bad recording, and different equipment adds different characteristics to the sound.[/quote]

As bad quality as it is, it will do for two lines - and the effect will probably reduce the difference too.

I was talking about the recording of the program; your samples are of better quality than the other SC2 lines actually.

Ah, aha.

Anyway, that's the new best I could get:
http://www.savefile.com/files/654817 (http://www.savefile.com/files/654817)
I might do the actual add-on tomorrow; now the Ultron reminds me that I must go to bed.
(yes, it was really necessary that the Ultimate Itself come to tell me this!!!)

Alright, I've just got a NEW best. I've made the add-on (text, speech and synchronization included!). It can be downloaded (for free  ;)) here:
Missing Mycon Dialogue Fix (http://ceruopran.googlepages.com/Almost_Perfect_Missing_Mycon.zip)

(NOTE: if you downloaded BEFORE this NOTE was written here, re-download. There was a little synchronization error that I've just fixed.)

(NOTE TWO: If you downloaded BEFORE this NOTE TWO, re-download. I've realized that "We are the Mycon" should be in mycon043.ogg, despite Sa-Matra quotes say otherwise.

(NOTE THREE: If you downloaded BEFORE this NOTE THREE, re-download. I had forgotten to add the text and sync for "We are the Mycon")

(NOTE FOUR: If you downloaded BEFORE this NOTE FOUR, re-download. Pitch problem for "Juffo-Wup springs forth" fixed.)

I've also sent a new e-mail to PR3, humbly asking him if he can do the "We do not interpret the will of Juffo-Wup. Only the source is so empowered. Unless instructed otherwise, Juffo-Wup requires that we remain here." line. I hope he won't be unnerved (too much) by this.

I wonder, is it good enough to be included in UQM 0.7.0 along with the missing lines?

Vallagar, well done. You deserve a pat on the back

I think the first effort is far superior to your most recent effort - your last one has far too much effect going on. My opinion is that the earlier version would be good enough for UQM - its almost right.

The last version was a bit more similar to the original Mycon voice than the first, I think, since it has more reverberation. At least, it sounded better when I tried in the game - anyway, I'll keep this in mind.

We haven't heard from the core team, though.
If you're reading this text, you're infinitely curious. Or maybe infinitely bored? No matter, you know that the line above means "Core team, show up!".

To be honest I thought the first version was more similar, but anyways

Oops, I had forgotten the text&sync for "We are the Mycon.". Added NOTE THREE - redownload.

I like the way this is heading; apart from the changes in applied effects, the additions seem to blend in quite nicely. I'll take a look at trying to reconstruct the effects used.

Thank you, Novus.

Re-download again - initial pitch problem with "Juffo-Wup springs forth" fixed.

Message to core team: What is your position apropos the inclusion of the missing speech? How much improvement needs to be done on these sounds?

The core team is inexplicably very busy and can't answer the 'Caster right now, it seems. Maybe they're preparing to release UQM 0.8.0?  :D

EDIT: Alright, just verified my mail, Paul's ready to work on "Only the source is so empowered" later this week(how nice of him!).
Meanwhile, we can try some other effects.

My opinion (and I'm not speaking for the core team in its entirety) is that it is still not good enough. But it does show promise.
What I think needs to be done foremostly is

• Add noise. Remember that the goal is not to produce the best sounding sample, but a sample that fits in seemlessly with the rest.
• Emphasise the high frequencies. Even better: analyse the frequencies of the original, and adjust all the frequencies in the new sample to closer match the original.
• Perhaps shift the frequencies a bit (towards the high end of the scale). This may not be necessary if the high frequencies are emphasised. Conversely, emphasising the high frequencies may not be necessary if the frequencies are shifted.

Yeah, I think that's what should be made. I just looked at the sounds in a spectral frequency view and the added sounds have a significant frequency difference. Thank you for helping.

UQM pulls the 'text-only' version from the voice version, right?  So this means that if this fix is included it will fix both sides?

Happy days and jubilation!

-Kwamp  (he who does not use voice)

Apropos, I've been playing a bit with equalization, and I can't get it to sound better. Maybe somebody else can help?

UQM currently only has one version of the text, which has been carefully edited to match the voice. Change the voice, and we'll have to change the text to match. :)

Valaggar has done a pretty good job already; I haven't managed to produce anything noticeably better (although this is mostly due to lack of time).